The lecture day I was going to give on 24 February in Drenthe about the recent studies about the intelligence of dogs also had to be cancelled because of my flu. This is the second time it had be to cancelled, after it was first cancelled at the end of January due to the severe winter weather conditions. A new date has now been set for this lecture day in Drenthe: Sunday 7 April. Well into the Spring season, so no more winter weather or flu viruses! There is still room for a number of people, so you can still register for this lecture day.

Do dogs understand what humans can see?

Description of the lecture day: In the past 19 years many new and exciting studies have been carried out on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. Special institutes for intelligence research with dogs have been set up at universities all over the world: the Family Dog Project at the University of Budapest (Adam Miklosi), the department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy at the University of Leipzig (Juliane Kaminski and Michael Tomasello), the Clever Dog Lab at the University of Vienna (Ludwig Huber), and the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University in the USA (Brian Hare). During the lecture day on January 27 I will discuss the results of all these recent studies with dogs. Central themes are the social and physical intelligence of dogs. Subjects that will be presented are, amongst others: Do dogs understand what humans see, hear or know? What do dogs learn by social observation, is there evidence for imitation in dogs? Do dogs understand human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? How much evidence exists regarding empathy in dogs? What are the results of language research with dogs? Are dogs able to understand human words? What does dogs’ physical intelligence consists of, what do they know about their physical environment? Are dogs aware that objects keep existing (object permanence), can dogs count? How do they behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? As usual, the lecture will be accompanied by lots of pictures and several interesting short films of these studies. The language at the lecture day will be Dutch.

Practical information: The day will start at 11.00 and will end at 17.30. It will be held at Logement In Den Groene Specht, Hoofdstraat 13, in Zwiggelte in Drenthe. Zwiggelte can be reached from most places in the four northern provinces within 100 kilometers. It can only be reached by car, but if you are dependent on public transport we can probably arrange something for you. Registration fee: 55 euro, including lunch, coffee and tea. A vegetarian or vegan lunch can be arranged. For those interested, there is also a possibility to have an informal dinner with me afterwards. In order to register, send a message to estebanyes@gmail.com

On Thursday April 9, 2015 a 1-day symposium will be held at Maastricht University (The Netherlands), called Humans, Animals and Nature: A Sustainable Relationship? Organized by the Maastricht University Graduate School of Sustainability Science (MUST) and its Founding Director professor of “Sustainable Development” Pim Martens. The symposium will feature con […]

On Monday 16th of June 2014 the seminar Animal behaviour, cognition & welfare will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel. The 1-day seminar is organised by AnimalConcepts in collaboration with the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science and is hosted by Tel Aviv University. How much do we really know about animal minds? How […]

Saturday 8 February ape expert dr. Esteban Rivas and dolphin expert dr. Justin Gregg will organise the third and last seminar in the Apes & Dolphins Seminar Series at the Free University in Amsterdam. This time the seminar will be wholly dedicated to the moral status of great apes and dolphins. Are they morally special […]

In 2014 the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science is organising for the first time Animal Lectures in English for an international audience. In these lectures psychologist and philosopher dr. Esteban Rivas will present up-to-date reviews of the current scientific state of affairs regarding the consciousness, emotions, and intelligence of nonhuman a […]

On Saturday, February 8th, 2014 the third and last seminar in the Apes & Dolphins Seminar Series will take place in Amsterdam. This time the seminar will be dedicated to the moral status of great apes and dolphins. Are apes and dolphins morally special? Or maybe they’re not? Join ape behavior expert Esteban Rivas from the Institute for […]

Finally some time for a new vegan recipe! I have had many requests for a vegan recipe of a typical Dutch soup: split pea soup! A vegan split pea soup is in fact really easy to make, by simply leaving out meat from traditional recipes. Split pea soup is delicious now we’re in Fall again […]

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One of my favourite foods is Indian food. Given the hinduistic tradition of the subcontinent, the Indian kitchen contains many vegan and vegetarian recipes. This recipe is for an eggplant curry, spicy and tasty. Ingredients (for 2 persons) 2 large eggplants 1 onion 2 tomatoes 1 red bell pepper 2 red or green chilli peppers […]